security

Twitter turning over huge amounts of user data to U.S. government

Social networking giant Twitter has released a new report outlining all subpoenaed, court ordered, and search warranted requests made by the U.S. government for private information about the site's users throughout the past year. And based on the figures, not only is the overall number of such requests steadily expanding, but Twitter is also increasingly being coerced into releasing this confidential data without legitimate probable cause or warrant.

TSA Confiscates Camera, Deletes Footage of Checkpoint

Despite the TSA admitting on its own website that there is no law which prevents people from filming TSA checkpoints, a man traveling through San Juan airport in Puerto Rico had his camera confiscated and footage deleted.

An essential pillar of democracy is openness. There is no way that people can meaningfully participate in government, even if only by voting for representatives, if they do not have access to accurate information related to government operations. This was well understood by the founders of the US and embedded in the Bill of Rights. Conversely, a salient characteristic of undemocratic systems of all types, such as Czarist Russia, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany is a high degree of governmental secrecy.

How Private Law Secures the Internet

The informal institutions that enforce network security norms between ISPs are more efficient than a formal legal regime. Indeed, because formal and informal enforcement of security norms are substitutes, not complements, the formal legal system's neglect of ISPs is not merely benign but has also helped the Internet to flourish.

Indiana Becomes First State to Allow Force Against Officers

A state Supreme Court ruling last year that “there is no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers,” when a man was charged with assaulting an officer during a domestic-violence call. The NRA pushed for a new law that allows residents to use deadly force in response to the “unlawful intrusion” by a “public servant” to protect themselves and others, or their property. Police lobbied against it. The measure requires those using force to “reasonably believe” a law-enforcement officer is acting illegally and that it’s needed to prevent “serious bodily injury.”